Hi and thanks for your question, we perfectly understand the concern here at Doctors On Call. Your question voiced concern about different types of cholesterols and what would the blood test show.

What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a substance in your blood, and everyone has it. The problem is when someone has too much of it.
What type of cholesterol are there and what are their normal values?
These are the components of the test of a complete lipid profile and their normal values

• Total cholesterol <5.17mmol/L
• LDL cholesterol <3.36mmol/L
• HDL cholesterol >1.55mmol/L
• Non-HDL cholestrol
• Triglycerides (not cholesterol but are usually tested together) <1.7mmol/L

LDL is known as the ‘bad’ cholesterol, increases your risk of cardiovascular disease and is often used as the goal of treatment. If you have a high risk for cardiovascular disease, your doctor would aim for a LDL of <1.8mmol/L! on the other hand, HDL is known as the ‘good’ cholesterol which lowers your cardiovascular risk, but this cholesterol is not being used as a goal of treatment as no drug can effectively increase it.

So, having less LDL and more HDL is a good thing but both of this should amount to a total cholesterol of no more than 5.17mmol/L. Non-HDL cholesterol is total cholesterol minus out the HDL cholesterol. It differs from the value of LDL, as there are some intermediate cholesterols that are much lower than the two constituents. But this value better reflects your cardiovascular risk in people with type II diabetes mellitus and in women.

Triglycerides, albeit not a cholesterol is also a lipid component within your blood which contributes to cardiovascular risk and can be treated with medication.
HDL and Non-HDL cholesterol are reliable even in a non-fasting state, but LDL and Triglycerides are not.

Please click on this link (DoctorOnCall) to talk to us privately online and discuss further about your inquiries. Thank you.